Fin blade assembly

Abstract

A glass fiber forming apparatus including a fin blade assembly having a manifold and a plurality of fins extending from the manifold. The fins are located beneath a bushing tip plate in proximity to and between the rows of tips to maintain a desired temperature among the glass filaments attenuated from the tips. The manifold is offset from the fin blades so as to allow clear visibility of the tip plate and unimpeded air flow passage through the fin blades during the glass fiber forming operation.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A glass fiber forming apparatus including a fin blade assembly for operatively controlling the temperature in an attenuation zone of a glass fiber filament forming bushing, said bushing having a tip plate with a plurality of spaced bushing tips extending into the attenuation zone, said fin blade assembly comprising: a plurality of cooling fins positioned in proximity to the bushing tips; and   a manifold positioned above the plane of the tip plate, wherein the manifold is in heat transfer relationship with the fins to remove heat from the cooling fins.     
     
     
       2. The glass fiber forming apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the fins extend downwardly from the manifold and beneath the tip plate. 
     
     
       3. The glass fiber forming apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the manifold further comprises a heat transfer channel containing a heat transfer medium. 
     
     
       4. The glass fiber forming apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the manifold further comprises a heat transfer channel containing a cooling gas. 
     
     
       5. The glass fiber forming apparatus as defined in claim 4, wherein the cooling gas is air. 
     
     
       6. The glass fiber forming apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the manifold is positioned above the attenuation zone to provide unimpeded air flow and visibility to the tip plate. 
     
     
       7. A fin blade assembly of a glass fiber forming apparatus; comprising: a plurality of cooling fins positioned beneath a tip plate of a glass fiber filament forming bushing for forming glass fibers; and   a manifold attached to and positioned above the plane of the tip plate for transferring heat from the cooling fins.   
     
     
       8. The fin blade assembly as defined in claim 7, wherein the cooling fins are attached beneath the manifold and extend horizontally beneath the tip plate. 
     
     
       9. The fin blade assembly as defined in claim 7, wherein the manifold is offset from the tip plate to provide unimpeded air flow and visibility to the tip plate. 
     
     
       10. The fin blade assembly as defined in claim 7, wherein the cooling fins include a first portion extending generally horizontal beneath the tip plate and a second portion extending generally vertical to the manifold. 
     
     
       11. The fin blade assembly as defined in claim 7, wherein the manifold further comprises a liquid heat transfer medium extending through the manifold to take heat away from the cooling fins. 
     
     
       12. A glass fiber forming apparatus including a fin blade assembly adapted to be placed between a plurality of tip rows on a tip plate in the bottom of a glass fiber bushing for forming glass fibers, the fin blade assembly comprising: a manifold positioned above the plane of the tip plate; and   a plurality of cooling fins attached to the manifold and extending downwardly from the manifold and adjacent the tip rows to cool the molten glass fibers as they are drawn from the tip plate.   
     
     
       13. The glass fiber forming apparatus as defined in claim 12, wherein the cooling fins include a first portion extending generally downwardly relative to the manifold and a second portion extending generally perpendicular to the first portion. 
     
     
       14. The glass fiber forming apparatus as defined in claim 12, wherein the intersection of the first and second portion is a curve.